Russian Brides
Captain Cragen goes undercover when a murder in Brighton Beach reveals a thriving but deadly foreign bride business. Summary When a young woman is found brutally murdered, the SVU detectives use her distinctive tattoos to identify her as a recently engaged Russian mail-order bride. Upon questioning her distraught fiancé, they learn that she was kidnapped and held for ransom the night of their engagement party. While the detectives follow the money to a deadly blackmail scam run by the Russian Mafia, Captain Cragen goes undercover as a sad and lonely suitor to lure out a killer. Plot The SVU detectives are called to investigate the rape & murder of a young woman, but they have a hard time identifying her body because her face, fingertips, and teeth are removed. Eventually, they use the victim's tattoos to track down her fiance, Daniel. Daniel admits that he met her on a Russian bride website & that she was kidnapped after their engagement party. He paid the ransom that was demanded, but he now believes that she's dead. Later on in the investigation, the detectives & Daniel discover the entire situation is an elaborate scam by a Russian mobster named Liev, who uses the same woman, Lena, to extort money out of men and then murders one of his prostitutes to make it look like that Lena was killed. The detectives set up an undercover operation to track Lena and Liev using Cragen as the mark. They get Lena in custody, & Lena claims that Liev is holding her daughter hostage. They try to capture Liev, but he's killed by Amanda. Then, they find one of his safe-houses where Lena's daughter is supposedly held, but it's later discovered that Lena's daughter has been deceased for four years. During a failed escape attempt, Lena kills an officer and it's subsequently revealed that she was actually Liev's partner in crime. Cast Main Cast * Mariska Hargitay as Detective Olivia Benson * Danny Pino as Detective Nick Amaro * Kelli Giddish as Detective Amanda Rollins * Richard Belzer as Sergeant John Munch (credit only) * Ice-T as Detective Odafin Tutuola * Dann Florek as Captain Donald Cragen Recurring Cast * Stephanie March as A.D.A. Alexandra Cabot * Tamara Tunie as M.E. Melinda Warner * Michael Kostroff as Defense Attorney Evan Braun Guest Cast * Timothy Busfield as Daniel Carter * Izabella Miko as Lena / Irene * Ramon Camín as Luis * Ean Sheehy as Travel Agent * Griffin Newman as QuickSecure Tech * Heidi Schreck as Restaurant Manager * Anna Orlova as Karina * Gary Hope as Liev Bodrov * Addison LeMay as Driver * Ananias J. Dixon as Joe * Kevin Prowse as Jesus * Jerome Preston Bates as FBI Agent * Barry D. Godin as Bartender References Episode references Quotes Background information and notes * It is revealed that Cragen's wife, Marge Cragen, had a miscarriage. * Benson said there was a murder a few months back on the carousel. It is most likely from "Pop" Episode scene cards Category:SVU episodes